Early voting has gotten off to a slow start in many west-central Illinois counties, but county clerks remain optimistic that the numbers will pick up as Election Day approaches.

Morgan County Clerk Jill Waggener said her office has seen about 120 people since early voting began Sept. 27.

“I think more and more people are becoming aware of early voting and taking advantage of it,” Waggener said. “I’m optimistic those numbers will grow.”

Other counties are following similar slow trends.

Scott County Clerk Sandy Hankins said she also expects things to pick up.

“In past years, things seem to pick up the closer we get to Election Day,” Hankins said.

Greene County Clerk Deborah Banghart isn’t expecting large early voting numbers, she said, though she also is expecting an increase closer to Election Day.

“You never can tell how the numbers will turn out,” Banghart said. “We don’t have any local races except for the county board, so that doesn’t draw the crowds this early. We don’t look for it to be much more than normal.”

While early voting has been slow, requests for mail-in ballots are at a high in many counties.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with mail-in requests,” Waggener said. “We have 160 requests that need to get processed right now.”

Cass County Clerk Shelly Wessel said her office is averaging just five or six people voting in person each day but receiving substantially more applications for vote-by-mail ballots.

“We’ve had a significant increase,” Wessel said. “We had 105 requests the first day.”

The increase in mail-in ballots could be attributed to the number of candidates who have funded reminders about the option during their campaigns, Waggener said.

“It’ll make Election Day quieter out at the polling places,” she said.

In addition to early voting, grace-period voting will begin today for those who still need to register, Waggener said. Those who register now must do so at the Morgan County Courthouse and will be required to vote when they register.

Election Day is Nov. 6.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.